As dental technology has advanced, improvements have been made not only in methods for treating clinical dental conditions but also in methods for improving the esthetic appearance of patients' teeth and the appearance of a patient's smile. Conventional methods for improving a patient's appearance involve orthodontic procedures and/or restorative procedures to change the position, size and/or contour of one or more teeth.
Many patients have a particular concern about their appearance when smiling and there is increasing focus on “smile design” methods and procedures. Some patients have suffered damage to one or more teeth which require restoration. Other patients would like to improve the appearance of their natural teeth. Improving a patient's appearance, however, is often a challenging task requiring expertise in both art and science. For example, it has proven difficult to restore or improve smiles of patients who have spaces between teeth. Often times, in order to close a space between teeth, an inordinately wide tooth is created which throws off the harmony of its relationship to adjacent teeth and gums. There may also be issues between patients and their friends and/or family members because the esthetic appearance of a smile is subjectively determined. What is attractive or looks aesthetically pleasing to one person may not be attractive or look aesthetically pleasing to another person. Of course, where the objective is to improve the appearance of a patient's smile, the subjective aspect of the result is of great importance to the patient.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of improved smile design which uses advanced science but also fully takes into consideration the subjective nature of the intended result. Further understanding of the method of the present invention will be had from the following specification and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.